Lenny Breau

Canadian guitarist Lenny Breau developed his sometimes gentle, sometimes furious, always haunting, fingerpicking style while aping Chet Atkins as part of a family act with his country music singing parents, Hal Lone Pine and Betty Cody. By his twenties, he had switched to jazz, forming a trio with whom he made two acclaimed albums which spread his reputation, and earned him respect from jazz guitar gods like George Benson. While Breau was often considered not to have reached his full potential, his vast skill marred by his continual battle against addiction, his legend aided by the mysterious nature of his early death (strangled in a pool at age 43, the crime still unsolved), classics like MO' BREAU and the elegant live collection THE VELVET TOUCH OF... show more than just flashes of his genius.